Most, if not all elevator systems are designed to allow the car doors to be manually opened by the passengers. This permits emergency exiting near floors and assists rescue. With the car door open, the hall door latch can be operated by the passengers to exit the car. If the car is substantially above the floor level (between floors), there is a large space leading to the shaftway between the bottom of the car and the floor. Passengers attempting to leave the car may step into that space while attempting to reach the floor. Thus the fact that the doors can be opened presents a potential for injury, albeit only in very rare, unusual circumstances.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,838,524 shows one type of safety device that only prevents opening the car door when the car is between floors, in addition to connecting the car and hall doors when the car is at a floor.
Consequently, there is an unmistakable need for a safety arrangement that prevents the occupants from opening the car doors, reaching the hall doors and pulling the hall doors back far enough so that they can try to leave when the car is too far from the floor. But an arrangement should still allow the passengers to open the car doors far enough to permit communication and passage of equipment, if required, and should allow passenger evacuation when the car is safely near the floor. The present invention provides such an arrangement.